Amandus

Amandus (c. 584 – 679), commonly called Saint Amand, was a bishop of Tongeren-Maastricht and one of the catholic missionaries of Flanders.

The chief source of details of his life is the Vita Sancti Amandi,[4] an eighth-century text attributed to Beaudemond (Latin: Baudemundus).

However, upon the death of his parents, he returned to his estates in Mézières sur Oise to settle some inheritance issues and found fine food, servants, and various conveniences sufficiently distracting that he gave up any thought of the monastic life, until one day Amandus took him on a pilgrimage to Rome.

[8][9] After the pilgrimage to Rome, Amandus was made a missionary bishop in the Merovingian kingdom in 628, without a fixed diocese.

[10] At the request of Clotaire II, he evangelized the pagan inhabitants of Ghent, later extending his field of operations to all of Flanders.

However, after allegedly performing a miracle (bringing back to life a hanged criminal)[10] the attitude of the people changed and he made many converts.

The pope gave him some advice on how to deal with disobedient clerics and told him about the Monothelite, at that time prevalent in the East.

Amand was commissioned by the pope to organize church councils in Neustria and Austrasia in order to pass on the various decrees from Rome.

Although mostly revered in Flanders and Picardy, he is also venerated in England, where at least one private chapel (at East Hendred in Oxfordshire) is dedicated to him.

Excerpt from the Vita St. Amandi manuscript. Manufactured in Ghent, ca. 10th century. Preserved in the Ghent University Library . [ 4 ]
St. Amandus and the serpent, from a 14th-century manuscript
The village church of Wezeren , Belgium is dedicated to Amandus